Pawsitively in Love (15 page)

“Are you sure Peter would be okay with watching Mags?”

“Babe, you cool to hang out with Maggie tonight? Austin wants to hit the Stone.”

“Sure!” Austin heard Peter call.

“See? She’ll be fine. Get your adorable butt ready and come on over here. I’ll be mixing cocktails.”

Austin loved the hell out of his friends.

He jumped in the shower and planned what he was going to wear while he was washing off. Tight jeans, no good guy cargo shorts, as Mary Beth liked to call them. His converse would have to work since he didn’t really have anything else, but he could put on a tight T-shirt and do something with his hair other than let it flop over his forehead. Someone would have to think he was hot. Right?

Austin got Maggie’s stuff together, and by the time he was in his car heading to Cole and Peter’s waterfront condo, he as actually feeling a little bit better. Peter had a very enthusiastic greeting ready for Maggie, and Cole… well, he had a rather large cocktail ready for Austin.

“The cab’s picking us up in a half an hour. Let’s get a little loose, and then we’ll go have some fun.”

“I think I’m going to need that whole thing,” Austin said.

“There are at least two more where this came from.” Cole had always been happy to assist when Austin wanted to let loose. “Can I put eyeliner on you?” he asked. Which was predictable. Cole always wanted to put eyeliner on Austin when they went out. Austin rarely said yes.

“Sure,” he said. “What the hell? Can you do brown, though, and not black?”

“Brown it is.”

Cole scampered up the stairs to his room, and Austin downed a huge swallow of his drink.

“You okay, man?” Peter asked him.

He must’ve been the tenth person to ask Austin that since Monday. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just want to blow off some steam.”

Peter clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t let Cole talk you into doing something you’ll regret. I love him with all my heart, but I also know him.”

Austin knew Cole too. They’d had some amazingly crazy nights together—and probably wavered fairly close to being arrested a time or two as well. “I won’t. I promise.”

THE SILVERSTONE
was packed by the time they got there. Austin was beyond buzzed on the three drinks he’d had at Cole and Peter’s place, and he was more than ready to dance. He and Cole wound their way through the outer bar that was stuffed with tables and people talking.

“Drink first before we go dance?” Cole asked.

“I could do a shot.” Austin wasn’t even close to sober. He’d like to be a lot further from it before the night was over.

Cole ordered some shots from the bartender. Austin didn’t even bother to ask what he was getting. Soon there were three shots lined up in front of him—one clear with an orange slice, one blue, and one that looked like a hell of a lot of trouble.

“Is that tequila?” he asked Cole. Tequila more than anything else made Austin do really dumb things.

“Of course it is. Bottoms up, my boy.” Cole grabbed Austin’s wrist and licked it. Then he sprinkled some salt on.
Why the hell not?
Austin licked the salt, downed the shot of tequila, and then grabbed his slice of lime to mask the flavor. Then he shuddered.

“God, I hate tequila.”

“But you love it too, right?”

Austin laughed.

He and Cole finished their shots one at a time, then left the main bar for the dance floor. Austin knew as soon as they’d gone through the swinging door onto the dance area that he’d made the right choice. The club was exactly where he was meant to be that night. The music pounded in his chest, and all he wanted to do was
dance
. Austin didn’t care if he met a guy or not. If he got to dance the rest of the night, then everything would be just fine.

He followed Cole across the dance floor to what used to be their usual area before Austin started a business and became boring. They laughed and danced until the lights blurred around him and he could barely feel the floor.

“Thank you for coming with me tonight,” he whisper-shouted in Cole’s ear.

“This is fun. Don’t worry about it. I’m happy I’m here.” Cole put his hand out and spun Austin around in a circle.

They ran into a few friends after a little while and danced with them, grabbed another drink, and danced some more. Austin was starting to forget startled brown eyes and a concerned frown. He was starting to forget that he’d made the biggest fool of himself over one guy again and again and again. Until he took a break to go to the bathroom and ran smack into that exact guy right in the middle of the walkway.

Evan. Shit.

“Austin?” Evan said. He sounded even more confused and concerned than he had the other night. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know,
babe
, what are you doing here?”

“Um, I came to grab some drinks with guys from the gym?” Evan spoke quietly enough that Austin barely heard him over the din of the main room.

“Guys from the gym.” Austin snorted. “Which one is it?
Babe
?”

Evan frowned at him. It was that damn concerned adorable frown thing that he
hated
. “I’m really confused here, Aus. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Austin rolled his eyes and leaned on the wall. “What’s going on is I’m going to go to the bathroom. Then I’m going to go out and dance. And maybe I’ll find a guy and take him home. You know. The usual.”

Then he pushed past Evan’s group of friends and went into the bathroom. Once inside the relative quiet, he leaned against the wall and put his head in his hands. “Shit,” he whispered. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Austin used the bathroom, then checked to see if the coast was clear before he speed walked out to the dance floor to find Cole.

“I want to go,” he said. “Now.”

Cole flashed him a confused look but nodded. He waved at their friends and led Austin through the club and up the stairs to outside.

“I’ll call the cab. Babe, you should really get a hot dog. Get something in your stomach.”

“I’m not hungry,” Austin grumbled. But he still stood in line at the hot dog stand and ordered a hot dog for him and one for Cole to eat on their way home. He was going to have a hell of a headache come morning. Even then he knew it. Austin dragged his phone out of his pocket and set an alarm. It was only for six hours away. He groaned.

“Cole, there is seriously something wrong with me.”

Cole petted his head and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re amazing, baby. If he doesn’t see that, then he’s the one with the problem.”

“How’d you know?” Austin asked.

Cole let out a soft chuckle. “Because I’m not blind.”

“AUSTIN, WHAT
the hell was that last night?” Evan was standing in Austin’s office, which he’d never done before. Austin looked hungover and tired, which anyone would be if they went to a club and then opened their shop at eight the next morning.

“I was just in a bad mood.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you need to glare at me and glare at my friends.”

“Your friends? You mean ‘baby’?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” Austin looked back at his computer.

“I thought we were back to being friends. Are you going to freeze me out again? Austin, you’re not being very logical. I thought we were past whatever that was.”

“Sorry. Maybe if I was ‘baby,’ you’d be more forgiving.”

“Baby? What’s this baby thing?”

“Baby? Babe? I don’t know. Someone who’s not me. Someone you obviously do want to date. You know, I could get it if you just weren’t into me, but you didn’t have to lie about it and say you were but you’re not ‘boyfriend material’ and then send cute texts to someone else.”

“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then check your phone. Or maybe be more careful before you press Send.” Austin stood. “I have work to do. I don’t have a cushy job with a long summer break like some people.” He pushed around Evan and out onto the main floor of the shop. Evan sank down onto the other chair in Austin’s office. He was baffled. He decided to pull out his phone and check what the hell he’d sent to Austin that had made him so mad.

Shit.

Della. It was his text for Della. He’d never even noticed that the message hadn’t gone through to her. And it was a stupid misunderstanding, but he could
fix
it. Even more than that, he wanted to fix it. This would be the point where Evan would usually walk away. No guy had ever made him care quite so much.

He went out to the front room ready to explain, but Austin was gone. There was only Jessica and a groomer he’d never seen before.

“Where’d Austin go?” he asked Jessica.

“He said he needed to grab a few things at the store. He left for lunch early.”

“Seriously?”

Of course he did. And Evan needed to go home and meet Peggy to watch Scout. Looked like a text was going to have to do it. He decided he’d text once he was at home and had Scout out in the yard playing with Dexter. Wasn’t any point in dealing with any of it when he was driving or trying to get her settled.

He drove home, stomach in his throat. Austin had thought he was
lying
to him. No wonder he was so pissed. Everything about the conversation at the club made so much more sense. He’d thought Evan lied about wanting to date someone. And the truth was… he had. He wanted Austin. He wanted things with Austin that he’d never had with anyone. Kisses, cuddling, meeting friends and waking up together, Evan wanted it all. And, sure, he might not be the guy for all of that stuff. At least he hadn’t ever been before. But all of a sudden he wanted to be. More than anything.

He couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled up to the curb in front of his house and grabbed his phone from where it had been sitting, so tempting, on his passenger seat. Evan punched out a message.

Hey Austin. Don’t know if you’ll read this but just wanted you to know that text you intercepted was meant for Della. My sister. She’s “babe.” Just figured you’d want to know.

He pushed Send and then put his phone down and went over to his neighbor’s to do what he’d promised Peggy he’d do. Watch Scout. He collected Scout and the bag Peggy had packed for her, and they walked together next door with Scout talking a mile a minute. He set her up in the backyard with Dexter and sat down at the table to watch them play. He had a number of her toys and some coloring books and crayons in case the toys didn’t keep her interest or it started raining, which looked quite possible.

They ran around in the backyard, and then he made Scout a Peggy-approved grilled cheese with tomato soup after it did in fact start raining. She was sitting at his dining room table with her coloring book and some crayons when there was a knock on the door.

Evan opened it to find a damp Austin standing there. He opened his mouth to say it wasn’t the time when Austin held up a hand.

“Listen, before you talk, I just wanted to say I’m so sorry. I just—”

“Austin, Scout’s here. I’m watching her for another two hours until her mom comes home.”

Scout chose that moment to notice that Austin was there. Which usually meant the presence of her second favorite dog friend. She shouted, “Maggie!” and scampered toward the door. Dexter must’ve learned that name as well because he picked his sleepy head up from where he’d been napping on his pillow.

“Maggie’s out in the car, sweetie. I wasn’t going to bring her in,” Austin told Scout.

“Well, you’d better do it now. There won’t be any talking her down if you don’t, and I don’t want two hours of pissy toddler,” Evan said under his breath.

“C-can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Evan sighed. It had been such a tiring day already, but having Austin there made it slightly better. “Come in.”

“Lemme go grab Maggie out of the car really quickly.”

Austin sprinted through the sudden downpour to his car, then grabbed Maggie and sprinted back. Maggie luckily didn’t look too wet, so Evan stepped aside and let them in. Dexter and Scout both greeted Maggie affectionately. It was pretty adorable to watch the three of them, so happy to be around each other. It was a little awkward between him and Austin at first, but then things melted into their usual closeness. Austin teased him when he noticed the grass stains on his previously perfect khakis; he hip checked Austin when they were making a tray of fruit and cookies and milk for Scout’s snack. In the half an hour before Peggy was due to return, Scout curled up on the floor with Maggie and Dexter and fell sound asleep.

“Hey,” Austin said quietly. “I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not. I should’ve just asked, but I basically let myself get hurt, and I overreacted and then I acted like an asshole. Cole and Peter still have no idea what my problem was last night.” He sighed.

“I said, it’s okay. I can understand why you thought what you thought.”

“I just….” Austin laughed, but it was quiet and a little bitter. “You just make me so crazy. I know you don’t mean to but—”

Fuck it.
Evan didn’t know what made him do it. Probably couldn’t take the thick tension between them anymore. He leaned over and slammed his lips against Austin’s. Austin sputtered for a moment, then he curled a hand around Evan’s wrist and returned the kiss.

Evan hadn’t ever been into kissing. It wasn’t his thing. He should’ve known that he and Austin would feel different. Would feel like all those fireflies and sparkly feelings that he’d always assumed were fiction. There had been so much tension between them, when Evan put his arm around Austin during the movie, when they laughed and flirted. He’d told himself it was platonic. That was such bullshit. Every drop of sizzle he’d been trying to pretend wasn’t there slid down his back like a trail of fire. Evan couldn’t get enough. He didn’t want to push it, though, a first kiss with a man he wanted and didn’t want to confuse, so he gave Austin one more gentle peck and lifted his head.

When they pulled away from the kiss, Austin was blinking at him, eyes wide and wondering. “Did you just kiss me?”